you can't fix stupid

so. i went to the urgent care yesterday because my finger is infected (apparently an abscess under the nail or something). so i arrived complete with my little card that says: "don't make this person wait in the waiting room because they have a compromised immune system". the receptionist told me to show it to the nurse when i got "back there" and had me wait in the waiting room anyway. (first bad sign there). i waited about 10 minutes.

got "back there" and tried to show the nurse my little card. she was very clearly uninterested. she took my blood pressure and temperature glanced at my finger and leg (and i do mean glanced) told me someone would be in soon. i waited another few minutes

then an older gentleman (probably over 65 at a guess) shows up. he has a woman following him around. he glances at my finger--which is extremely red around the cuticle and says "yup you have an abscess". then the stupidity begins in earnest. he is inputting stuff onto a lap top computer. and complaining. to me. about how he has to actually put in a diagnosis before he can put in a prescription. meantime, he has barely looked at anything. finally he gets that done, grouching the whole time about the programmers who created this program, etc. i say "i have leukemia and i'm not on my gleevec right now because my platelet count is too low. will this medication work with gleevec because i'll be back on it in a week probably". he responds with "i've never heard of gleevec, i don't know anything about that, you're going to have to ask your other doctor about that."

then he grabs a q-tip with a wooden stick. and he starts pushing on my cuticle. no sterile sharp items, just a little wooden stick. of course it was incredibly painful because well, it's infected. meantime he tells me about when he was in the army and a patient called him up with a similar problem and he recommended taking a paperclip and holding it in a lighter to sterilize it, then pushing it straight through the nail.

finally he gave up and told the woman who i assume was a nurse to get a pain of hot water with soap and soak my finger for 10 minutes. he'll be back. i follow directions. when he comes back in he starts in with a new wooden stick. nothing. he did however make some not very funny jokes about how tortuous this was, and me revealing my mother's maiden name to him.  so he gives up and tells his nurse to put a band aid on it. she doesn't glove up, she doesn't wash her hands. she grabs a band aid and applies it. he says that i should continue to soak it and keep pushing on the cuticle until i find the abscess.

all of this seems pretty stupid to begin with. i had expected sterile needles and sharp tools, and lancing the thing. instead i'm sent home with a prescription for an antibiotic and some cream to put on my leg.

i picked up my scrip after going to the movie. not being very trusting, and being a bit concerned about the meds, i got home and looked up the antibiotic. one of the known side effects (albeit a serious less common one) is easy bruising and bleeding. so. no antibiotics for me. because well, i'm off my gleevec why again? because i don't have enough platelets, and what do i do? bruise easily and bleed too much. yeah.

i was doing my darnedest to avoid ending up in the ER sometime this weekend, but i may end up there anyway. and now to top it off i have a seriously sore throat. the glands/whatever beneath my chin are extremely swollen and really sore. damn. i wish i could take the antibiotics, because really maybe they'd help with the finger and the sore throat at this point. but i definitely am not. i'll be calling the cancer clinic on monday to find out what to do. hope i stay healthy enough in the meantime to avoid hospitals all together.